Modern problems require modern solutions. This is the premise of Poppy S. Winanti’s project, done in collaboration with fellow UK alumna Diah Kusumaningrum.
“With 200 million netizens across Indonesia, it would be a shame if we did nothing about our many social injustices, even in the digital realm,” says Diah. “We are all agents of change and digital activism is a subset of the wider social justice movement. Direct action and digital activism complement each other and play equally crucial parts to ensure justice across the board.”
Using an online course model, Poppy and Diah have designed a programme aimed at the young generation - from students to journalists alike - introducing them to the ten forms of digital activism, categorised into three tiers: spectator, transitional and gladiatorial.
“As the world witnesses new challenges, from climate change, the decline of democracy, digital disruption, and discrimination against marginalised communities, we want the modules to be as inclusive and comprehensive as possible,” states Poppy.
She further explains, “All courses under this project will be uploaded and available on our learning management system via FOCUS or Fisipol Online Campus, under the academic innovation unit at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Universitas Gadjah Mada, and can be accessed by the general public.”
In keeping with the project’s inclusive nature, Poppy and Diah also collaborated with stakeholders according to their expertise and area of knowledge. “Since the beginning, we have involved activists in developing the curriculum to get their assessments and their opinions on how to make the content and ensure that it is relevant for the wider society,” elaborates Poppy. “For three years, we delivered an initiative under the Megashift Project, which included climate change issues, supported by prominent state-owned enterprises. As such, under the Digital Activism for All project, we plan to focus on climate change issues as one of the case studies.”
In order to ensure the project’s effectiveness, Diah mentions that it has an attention checker feature that tracks the number of modules a participant has undertaken before receiving a certificate of participation at its completion. “Therefore, this means that we will measure our level of success via the number of participants and certificates given out,” she adds.